This invention relates generally to printed wiring boards and card connectors and more particularly concerns a printed wiring board assembly slide to which a card guide is attached for alignment and ease of insertion when a card is inserted into a card connector on the printed wiring board assembly.
When a circuit board is inserted inside a chassis, the circuit board and its associated card connector may reside a significant distance from a chassis opening or access port in the chassis through which to insert a card. Generally, a printed wiring board assembly is mounted on printed wiring board assembly slides to facilitate removal of the printed wiring board assembly for maintenance or system upgrades. When printed wiring board assemblies are mounted on slides, it is difficult to accurately align the printed wiring board assembly and the card connector with the access port in the chassis. Misalignment of the printed wiring board assembly and the card connector causes difficulty in insertion of the card through the access port and into the card connector, resulting in user frustration.
Past solutions to the problem of difficult card insertion have included molding the chassis into a funnel shaped guide to guide the card into the card connector, however, this does not address the problem of misalignment as the funnel shaped guide must still be aligned with the connector chassis opening.
Accordingly, is the primary aim of the invention to provide an improved design of a card guide which has fewer alignment problems and facilitates easy insertion of a card through the card guide, the chassis and into the card connector located on the printed wiring board circuit assembly.
Further advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds.